Trident sticks a fork in CEO, president; they are done

Christos Lagomichos' leavetaking from Trident Microsystems, Inc., which became official in a Trident announcement earlier this week, was foreordained.

NEW YORK – So, here’s the scoop.

Christos Lagomichos’ leavetaking from Trident Microsystems, Inc., which became official in a Trident announcement earlier this week, was foreordained. Lagomichos had already made up his mind -- as early as last October -- of his plan to leave the company in February.

He fulfilled his original contract with NXP to serve as Trident’s president for minimum of one year. “I had an option either to stay or leave beyond that agreement,” said Lagomichos.

Thus, his decision to leave Trident was made “totally independent” of Sylvia Summers whose resignation as Trident’s CEO was also announced Thursday by the company.

The goings-on at Trident’s board meeting earlier this week is unknown. “The news,” Lagomichos said, “caught me by surprise.” Some say Summers took the blame for Trident’s expected fourth-quarter revenue shortfall. Others suspect more intricate power plays within the company, but nobody’s acknowledging anything right now.

While Lagomichos’ tenure will last until Feb. 9th, he is no longer in his office at Trident. After the public announcement of his resignation, he said he received a barrage of messages – many from customers, some from his colleagues who don’t understand the situation, and many more from competitors congratulating him on his decision.

Lagomichos, however, noted: “Nobody forced me to leave Trident. Trident is a great company. I like them a lot and I’d support them in any way I can during the transition.”

When asked what next, he noted the many calls he’s been fielding since word got out. Lagomichos said, “Maybe some consulting… Or I’ll look for a CEO position in a small to medium size company.” He added, “I know Trident will survive without me, and I will survive without them. Life will go on.”

Will Philippe Geyres, Lagomichos’ former boss at STMicroelectronics, take the helm at Trident? Geyres, who joined Trident’s board in February 2010, is interim CEO and a candidate for the permanent job. Lagomichos said, “The market is tough these days, but Philippe knows this market very well.”

Geyres, once rumored to be a candidate for ST’s top job when Pasquale Pistorio retired [but the job went to Carlo Bozzoti], has a well-known jones to get another CEO job [After he left ST, he was CEO of Oberthur Technologies, French smartcard company from 2007 to 2008] and is said to be eager to return to the consumer electronics business.

Sylvia spent at least $200M for four years and nothing has been accomplished. She was doomed to go but she made her $2M salary plus stocks...
She will have tough time to find a job since she can't execute anything.